The Cadres: Backbone of the Revolution

The Cadres: Backbone of the

Revolution
By Che Guevara

It is not necessary to dwell upon the characteristics of our

revolution; upon its original form, with its dashes of spontaneity
which marked the transition from a revolution of national
liberation to a socialist revolution; one full of rapidly passing
stages, led by the same people who participated in the initial epic
of the attack on the Moncada Barracks; a revolution which
proceeded through the landing from the Granma and culminated in
the declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution.
New sympathisers, cadres, organisations joined the feeble
structure to such an extent that they imparted to our revolution its
present mass character, which has now placed its stamp upon our
revolution.

When it became clear that a new social class had definitely taken
power in Cuba, the great limitations which the exercise of state
power would encounter because of the existing conditions in the
state became evident: the lack of cadres to cope with the enormous
tasks which had to be carried out in the state apparatus, in political
organisation, and on the entire economic front.

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The Cadres: Backbone of the Revolution

Immediately after the taking of power, administrative assignments

were made "by rule of thumb"; there were no major problems -
there were none because as yet the old structure had not been
shattered. The apparatus functioned in its old, slow, lifeless,
broken-down way, but it had an organisation and with it sufficient
co-ordination to maintain itself through inertia, disdaining the
political changes which came about as a prelude to the change in
the economic structure.

The 26th of July Movement, deeply impaired by the internal

struggles between its right and left wings, was unable to dedicate
itself to constructive tasks; and the Partido Socialista Popular
(Popular Socialist Party), because it had undergone fierce attacks,
and because for years it was an illegal party, had not been able to
develop intermediate cadres to cope with the newly arising
responsibilities.

When the first state interventions took place in the economy, the
task of finding cadres was not very complicated, and it was
possible to select them from among many people who had the
minimum basis for assuming positions of leadership. But with the
acceleration of the process which took place after the
nationalisation of the North American enterprises and later of the
large Cuban enterprises, a veritable hunger for administrative
technicians manifested itself. At the same time, an urgent need
was felt for production technicians because of the exodus of many
who were attracted by better positions offered by the imperialist

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The Cadres: Backbone of the Revolution

companies in other parts of the Americas or in the United States

itself. The political apparatus had to make an intense effort, while
engaged in the tasks of building, to pay ideological attention to the
masses who joined the revolution eager to learn.

We all performed our roles as well as we could, but it was not

without pain and anxieties. Many errors were committed by the
administrative section of the Executive; enormous mistakes were
made by the new administrators of enterprises who had
overwhelming responsibilities on their hands, and we committed
great and costly errors in the political apparatus also, an apparatus
which little by little began to fall into the hands of a contented and
carefree bureaucracy, totally separated from the masses, which
became recognised as a springboard for promotions and for
bureaucratic posts of major or minor importance.

The main cause of our errors was our lack of a feeling for reality
at a given moment; but the tool that we lacked, that which blunted
our ability to perceive and which was converting the party into a
bureaucratic entity and was endangering administration and
production, was the lack of developed cadres at the intermediate
level. It became evident that the policy of finding cadres was
synonymous with the policy of going to the masses, to establish
contact anew with the masses, a contact which had been closely
maintained by the revolution in the first stages of its existence.
But it had to be established through some type of mechanism
which would afford the most beneficial results, both in feeling the

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pulse of the masses and in the transmission of political orientation,

which in many cases was only being given through the personal
intervention of Prime Minister Fidel Castro or other leaders of the
revolution.

From this vantage point, we can ask ourselves what a cadre type
is.

We should say that a cadre person is an individual who has

achieved sufficient political development to be able to interpret
the extensive directives emanating from the central power, make
them his, and convey them as orientation to the masses, a person
who at the same time also perceives the signs manifested by the
masses of their own desires and their innermost motivations.

He is an individual of ideological and administrative discipline,

who knows and practices democratic centralism and who knows
how to evaluate the existing contradictions in this method and to
utilise fully its many facets; who knows how to practice the
principle of collective discussion and to make decisions on his
own and take responsibility in production; whose loyalty is tested,
and whose physical and moral courage has developed along with
his ideological development in such a way that he is always
willing to confront any conflict and to give his life for the good of
the revolution. Also, he is an individual capable of self-analysis,
which enables him to make the necessary decisions and to exercise
creative initiative in such a manner that it won't conflict with
discipline.
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The Cadres: Backbone of the Revolution

Therefore the cadre person is creative, a leader of high standing, a

technician with a good political level, who by reasoning
dialectically can advance his sector of production, or develop the
masses from his position of political leadership.

This exemplary human being, apparently cloaked in difficult-to-

achieve virtues, is nonetheless present among the people of Cuba,
and we find him daily. The essential thing is to grasp all the
opportunities that there are for developing him to the maximum,
for educating him, for drawing from each personality the greatest
usefulness and converting it into the greatest advantage for the
nation.

The development of a cadre individual is achieved in performing

everyday tasks; but the tasks must be undertaken in a systematic
manner, in special schools where competent professors - examples
in their turn to the student body - will encourage the most rapid
ideological advancement.

In a regime that is beginning to build socialism, you could not

imagine a cadre that does not have a high political development,
but when we consider political development we must not only
take into account apprenticeship to Marxist theory; we must also
demand responsibility of the individual for his acts, a discipline
which restrains any passing weaknesses, and which will not
conflict with a big dose of initiative; and constant preoccupation
with all the problems of the revolution. In order to develop him,

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The Cadres: Backbone of the Revolution

we must begin by establishing the principles of selectivity among

the masses; it is there that we must find the budding personalities,
tested by sacrifice or just beginning to demonstrate their stirrings,
and assign them to special schools; or when these are not
available, give them greater responsibility so that they are tested in
practical work.

In this way, we have been finding a multitude of new cadres who

have developed during these years; but their development has not
been an even one, since the young companeros have had to face
the reality of revolutionary creation without the adequate
orientation of a party. Some have succeeded fully, but there were
others who could not completely make it and were left midway, or
were simply lost in the bureaucratic labyrinth, or in the
temptations that power brings.

To assure the triumph and the total consolidation of the revolution,

we have to develop different types of cadres: the political cadre
who will be the base of our mass organisations, and who will
orient them through the action of the Partido Unido de la
Revolucion Socialista (United Party of the Socialist Revolution;
PURS). We are already beginning to establish these bases with the
national and provincial Schools of Revolutionary Instruction and
with studies and study groups at all levels. We also need military
cadres; to achieve that, we can utilise the selection the war made
among our young combatants, since there are still many living,
who are without great theoretical knowledge but were tested under

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fire-tested under the most difficult conditions of the struggle, with

a fully proven loyalty toward the revolutionary regime with whose
birth and development they have been so intimately connected
since the first guerrilla fights of the Sierra. We should also
develop economic cadres who will dedicate themselves
specifically to the difficult tasks of planning and the tasks of the
organisation of the socialist state in these moments of creation.

It is necessary to work with the professionals, urging the youth to

follow one of the more important technical careers in an effort to
give science that tone of ideological enthusiasm which will
guarantee accelerated development. And, it is imperative to create
an administrative team, which will know how to take advantage of
the specific technical knowledge of others and to co-ordinate and
guide the enterprises and other organisations of the state to bring
them into step with the powerful rhythm of the revolution.

The common denominator for all is political clarity. This does not
consist of unthinking support to the postulates of the revolution,
but a reasoned support; it requires a great capacity for sacrifice
and a capacity for dialectical analysis which will enhance the
making of continuous contributions on all levels to the rich theory
and practice of the revolution. These companeros should be
selected from the masses solely by application of the principle that
the best will come to the fore and that the best should be given the
greatest opportunities for development.

In all these situations, the function of the cadre, in spite of its

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being on different fronts, is the same. The cadre is the major part
of the ideological motor which is the United Party of the
Revolution. It is something that we could call the dynamic screw
of this motor; a screw that in regard to the functional part will
assure its correct functioning; dynamic to the extent that the cadre
is not simply an upward or downward transmitter of slogans or
demands, but a creator which will aid in the development of the
masses and in the information of the leaders, serving as a point of
contact with them. The cadre has the important mission of seeing
to it that the great spirit of the revolution is not dissipated, that it
will not become dormant nor let up its rhythm. It is a sensitive
position; it transmits what comes from the masses and infuses in
the masses the orientation of the party.

Therefore, the development of cadres is now a task which cannot

be postponed. The development of the cadres has been undertaken
with great eagerness by the revolutionary government with its
programs of scholarships based on selective principles; with its
programs of study for workers, offering various opportunities for
technological development; with the development of the special
technical schools; with the development of the secondary schools
and the universities, opening new careers; with the development
finally of our slogans of study, work and revolutionary vigilance
for our entire country, fundamentally based on the Union of
Young Communists from which all types of cadres should
emerge, even the leading cadres in the future of the revolution.

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Intimately tied to the concept of cadre is the capacity for sacrifice,

for demonstrating through personal example the truths and
watchwords of the revolution. The cadres, as political leaders,
should gain the respect of the workers by their actions. It is
absolutely imperative that they count on the respect and affection
of their companeros, whom they should guide along the vanguard
paths.

Overall, there are no better cadres than those elected by the masses
in the assemblies that select the exemplary workers, those that will
be brought into the PURS along with the old members of the ORI
(Organizacion Revolucionaria Integrada -Integrated Revolutionary
Organisation) who pass the required selective tests. At the
beginning they will constitute a small party, but with enormous
influence among the workers; later it will grow when the advance
of socialist consciousness begins converting the work and total
devotion to the cause of the people into a necessity. With the
intermediate leaders of this category, the difficult tasks that we
have before us will be accomplished with fewer errors. After a
period of confusion and poor methods, we have arrived at a just
policy which will never be abandoned. With the ever-renewing
drive of the working class, nourishing from its inexhaustible
fountain the ranks of the future United Party of the Socialist
Revolution, and with the leadership of our Party, we fully
undertake the task of the forming of cadres which will guarantee
the swift development of our revolution. We must be successful in
the effort.

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